Musharraf will quit as army chief if re-elected

Yielding to mounting pressure, embattled Pervez Musharraf has decided to step down as army chief if he is re-elected as President - a move that would end eight years of military rule in Pakistan.

"If elected for second term, General Musharraf will relinquish charge of Chief of Army staff soon after election and before taking oath," the General's lawyer Sharifuddin Pirzda today told a nine-member Supreme Court bench hearing a raft of petitions challenging his holding of dual offices.

Musharraf's commitment to the apex court came a day after his main ally, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q, said that it "expects" him to take oath as a civilian President, addding to the pressure on the 64-year-old General who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

Pirzada told the bench-headed by Justice Rana Bhagwan Das that Musharraf will file nomination papers to seek relection as President in the first official confirmation that he plans to contest the election in uniform.

Musharraf's term expires on November 15 but no election schedule has been announced by the Election Commission, which has amended electoral laws enabling him to contest the presidential poll in uniform.

It is to be seen whether the apex court would permit him to contest the election while holding the dual offices.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who is slated to return to Pakistan on October 18 after nine years in self exile, has insisted that a proposed power sharing deal with the General hinged on his quitting as army chief.

(Reporting by K J M Verma)